The present invention relates generally to communication systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system in which messages generated by a message source are automatically converted to the proper mediums for transmission to various types of communication devices used by selected recipients.
In today's world, many different modes of communication have become commonplace. By way of example, people often communicate via e-mail, voice mail or facsimile. In addition, people may employ many different data services to handle their electronic or voice mail. Although a great technological advance, the availability of these various modes of communication has spawned inefficiency since sending messages to or receiving messages from diverse sources has grown increasingly complex.
Known prior art systems have attempted to address this inefficiency. For example, one system discloses a unified messaging system in which a user has unified access to any messaging service. All messages to a specified user, regardless the source, are automatically routed to a user-designated messaging mailbox. The mailbox notifies the user that a new message has been received. In the event the message could not be forwarded to the mailbox, the notification relays the information that the message is waiting on another service. Although, the unified messaging system addresses the problem of receiving messages from diverse sources, it does not offer a solution for efficiently sending communications to diverse sources.
In today's workplace, efficient communication with many different individuals or groups of people has become paramount. Unfortunately, as not everyone communicates via the same type of communication device, a single message intended for many different recipients often cannot be sent using a single mode of communication. For example, a manager at a facility employing both office workers and assembly line workers might want to distribute a company-wide message. The manager can communicate with the office workers via e-mail, but can reach the assembly line workers only by posting the message on a bulletin board or displaying the message on a message marquee. Thus, to communicate with all the intended recipients, the message originator is forced to generate the same message repeated times using various modes of communication.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a communication system that transmits a message generated by a message source to a variety of recipients communicating via diverse communication devices. The system would automatically convert the message to the appropriate communication format and transmit the message to the selected recipients at their respective sites. In addition, the system would include an open architecture that advantageously could receive message from diverse sources, whether originated by users using a variety of user interfaces or originated by automated sources, such as other software applications or hardware devices.